Real Kids, Real Stories, Real Change

by Garth Sundem, Bethany Hamilton (Foreword)

Eleven-year-old Tilly saved lives in Thailand by warning people that a tsunami was coming. Fifteen-year-old Malika fought against segregation in her Alabama town. Ten-year-old Jean-Dominic won a battle against pesticides--and the cancer they caused in his body. Six-year-old Ryan raised $800,000 to drill water wells in Africa. And twelve-year-old Haruka invented a new environmentally friendly way to scoop dog poop. With the right role models, any child can be a hero. Thirty true stories profile kids who used their heads, their hearts, their courage, and sometimes their stubbornness to help others and do extraordinary things. As young readers meet these boys and girls from around the world, they may wonder, "What kind of hero lives inside of me?"

Genres: Nonfiction, Middle Grade, Childrens

165 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2010

About the author

Garth works at the intersection of math, science, and humor, with a background including a growing list of bestselling books, a Magna Cum Laude pre-med/music degree from Cornell University, and math-for-hire for mobile app and tech companies. In addition to conferences, colleges, and bookstores, you may have seen Garth's work on the Science Channel, where he's a frequent onscreen contributor, online at his popular blog (scientificblogging.com), or in magazines including Esquire, Wired, Publisher's Weekly, and Congressional Quarterly.

Garth grew up on Bainbridge Island, a short ferry ride from Seattle, where his dad----a former President of the American Accounting Association----taught for 34 years in the UW business school. Garth lives in Ojai, California, with his wife, two small kids, and one large Labrador, commonly found shoulder-deep in Ojai's municipal fountain (the dog, not the kids; the kids only go in up to their knees).

Stay tuned for more fun, fascinating and sometimes useful books nestled at the nexus of pop and science.

Reviews

[Maggie Connolly · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's amazing what these people have been through. Or what they had been people before they passed on. I Would recommend this book to everyone because we should be grateful for our lives and how we haven't gone through things like this.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a collection of coming of age stories with kids and teenagers around the world have overcome obstacles or injury, age and race to be where they are today. I would use this as a supplement to a civics unit or even for a advisory reading. I could also see these stories as read alouds as inspiration for students.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great stories for kids to read about other kids that have helped to change the world, whilethey are going through their own struggles as well! It shows the power of resilience and strength that we all posess!

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

love it

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most energizing books I have read in awhile. Why? It provides thirty examples of young people from sixteen countries, I mean really young, one starting at age five, who have had a very positive impact on their country and in many cases the world, through their efforts.

There are multiple reasons why this book is impressive in its message and how it is structured. First the message. These stories are real, and every one of them involved kids identifying something that they felt was wrong and then doing something successful about it. Not one of the examples was easy. This was not kids going to their parents and their parents taking over. In many cases their parents were an obstacle. It was kids doing something that many said could not be done.

Now the structure. It is organized by the nature of the projects described in each chapter. The five chapters are Kids Saving the Environment, Kids Standing Up for Themselves, Kids Helping Others, Kids Overcoming Challenges, Kids Using Talents and Creativity. The stories are short and very easy to read, with pictures and graphics that help the story move ahead. There are Fast Fact boxes that provide information about the country where the action is occurring, or the kid taking action, or the success of the initiative. There are also Get Inspired postcard images in most chapters that provide information about how the reader can get involved in efforts that promote the particular initiative that has been described in the chapter.

The Bibliography at the end of the book provides additional information about articles, books and other resources related to each chapter. Finally, the publisher Free Spirit needs a shout out. They have published other books about kids doing amazing things including Real Kids, Real Stories, Real Character Real Kids, Real Stories, Real Character: Choices That Matter Around the World

Bottom Line - this is an inspiring and at the same time very informative book for anybody interested in identifying ways to improve our world and the resources that support that goal.

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good and nicely-written survey of heroic children, that we might aspire to mimic in some stage of our life, if not our schooldays. Here is a kid who walked 800 miles to campaign about Mexican rainforest destruction (it did help he was in Mexico to start with, I'll grant you) and here the lass constantly told girls cannot be mountaineers, and who went up Everest twice as a result. Someone alerts a beach filling with tourists about the imminent Boxing Day tsunami and saves a hundred people. Someone starts their first full fantasy novel when fresh out of high school.

The issue is that this is an old book redressed slightly, and then brought back to my attention as part of someone's back-catalogue. So talk is made of people gunning for "MP3 players" with their prize money, when clearly that's far too ancient for the modern youth to even have heard of them. Tweaks were needed to get this up-to-date – who is to say if Taiwan's workers' rights are still being improved or not? Is it still thought wonderful that Ghana has more eucalyptus trees for firewood and cocoa plant shade, when they suck up all the water locally? Children doing things in 2003 and 2004 don't have the immediacy now those subjects are the age of the intended reader's parents.

That said, this takes us back to 1996 and Colombia for stories we've probably never seen before, and it's never without some impact. And the benefit of these biographies are that they are pretty much untold stories – whether they be about chess players or young inventors of more eco-friendly anti-barnacle paint. So it's not perfect – and the tweak to stop telling us where the 2014 Paralympics are due to be held is so easy that that's part of the issue – but it is an amenable book to have around, and its intentions haven't dated. It remains a four star success.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off, this book is really interesting–non-fiction books aren't just about rainforests, or about factories with a boring cover! If you set your mind to reading this book, you'll look at non-fiction books in a interesting way. This book covers real-life kids who contributed to decreasing worldly air pollution, earth-friendly methods of removing animal dung, etc.

[Makayla D]

I really like this book because there are many stories in one, which talks about real-world problems, which children face and try to help in the world. Not all of the stories are about the world, but about personal stories that children go through, and how they are overcoming them. The stories are really interesting and fun to read.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great summer reading for my 12 year old with special needs!

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would actually rate this a 3.5 or 3.75

[Trent Mikesell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great and inspiring stories about kids impacting the world.

[Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is supposed to help kids relate to "heroes" closer to their own age. However, the book lacks photos and examples to go with each person's story. Each person's story in the book should have a photo of the person at or around the time that the main part of the action occurred. Further, with the stories involving art work, a comic strip, etc., there should be a picture of that as well.

[Carly Coburn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Things that these people have done are truly amazing. However I can honestly say that it lacked pictures, more information, and it failed to keep me interested. This book was okay on the scale that it taught me about what other kids my age are doing but it also made me quite sad that people would just randomly die and there wasn't a soft closure into it. "He liked going to Starbucks, listening it movie soundtracks, and then he died in 2002"

[Roshini Balan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good, wished it had a coupe more stories.

[Maggie Connolly · Rating 5 out of 5]

AMAZING WOULD READ IT A BILLION TIMS!

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book because it was cool to hear about the things kids did to change the community for the better. In this book i learned that kids can make a difference!

[Jill Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it, although far too many exclamation points were used.

[Noah · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was great

[St Stephen's C C]

This title includes thirty true stories profiling ordinary kids doing extraordinary things around the world. Eleven-year-old Tilly saved lives in Thailand by warning people that a tsunami was coming. Fifteen-year-old Malika fought against segregation in her Alabama town. Ten-year-old Jean-Dominic won a battle against pesticides - and the cancer they caused in his body. Six-year-old Ryan raised $800,000 to drill water wells in Africa. Twelve -year- old Haruka invented a new environmentally friendly way to scoop dog poop. With the right role models, any child can be a hero. Thirty true stories profile kids who used their heads, their hearts, their courage, and sometimes their stubbornness to help others and do extraordinary things. As young readers meet these boys and girls from around the world, they may wonder, 'What kind of hero lives inside of me'?.